Broker - legal or not?

Hello, in June 2011 we contacted several real estate agents to ask if they had a building plot in our area for about €50,000. One agent sent us a listing for a plot already known to us for €63,000. We simply ignored it. We bought this plot in September 2011 for under €50,000, not through the agent, the listing was the only contact. According to his statement, the listing said that if we already knew the plot, we should inform him within a week. Unfortunately, I no longer have it. Today we received an invoice for the agent's commission. Is the agent in the right? We somehow don’t want to spend nearly €2,000 for nothing. Thank you in advance

From the gut, I would say ignore it. Our broker fees were listed in the purchase contract. If the seller had a contract with the broker and ignored it, that's his problem. No idea if what I wrote is legally permissible now.

Purely based on instinct, I would just address him directly. After all, he has to prove to you first that you have received the [Expose]. If he still insists on the payment, I would definitely seek legal advice.

Is a broker being cheated out of his money here again?? Why don't you want to pay the broker but still use his services??

First nicely and politely ask "Dear broker etc..." only to later say "We don't know you, never received a brochure"
That is petty and selfish!! Typical though...!!

Why are you too lazy to make a quick call or write a short letter?

I never claimed to have never received the exposé. The received plot of land was already known to me beforehand and we inquired about a plot up to approximately 50,000 €, not for 63,000 €. Then I'll be a broker now too, whenever I hear someone wants to buy a plot, I send them all the plots I know as soon as they buy one of them........ Using his services, hmm, if that's all his services, that's a really good income.

Wird hier wieder ein Makler um sein Geld gebracht?? Wieso wollt ihr den Makler nicht bezahlen aber seine Dienste dafür in Anspruch nehmen??

Erst schön und nett nachfragen "Lieber Makler usw..." Nur um dann später zu sagen "Wir kennen Dich nicht, haben nie ein Expose erhalten"
Das ist kleinkariert und egoistisch!! Typisch aber...!!

Warum seid ihr zu faul, um einen kurzen Anruf zu tätigen oder einen kurzen Brief zu verfassen?

You can think whatever you want about real estate agents, but as a customer it would be nonsense to care how the agent lives if they offer a property for 10,000 or more in additional costs. As far as I know, the seller has to ensure that any inclusive contracts are honored. If the seller sells bypassing the agent, I as the buyer shouldn't care.

We were also offered a piece of land by a bank. It seemed suspiciously familiar to us. Well, an agent had offered it to us two weeks earlier for 15,000 more. The bank as the owner knew nothing about the agent. Here in our area everything is so infested with agents, you can't get anything without them.